Optical components may be used in various applications due to their unique properties, such as small size, dielectric structure, electromagnetic immunity, robustness, chemical durability, high sensitivity, and cylindrical geometry. These properties make optical devices especially suitable for applications in extreme environments, telecommunication, biomedical applications, and in all fields of industrial applications.
Some devices may include micro- and nanometer-scale devices and may be manufactured using micromachining techniques. For example, optical fiber ends may be micro-machined to form precision lens shapes by the use of lasers (e.g., CO2 or ultra short laser pulses), as described in EP0430532. In other applications, diffraction gratings may be machined on an end of an optical fiber by the use of ultraviolet laser micromachining, as described in the paper entitled “Deep ultraviolet laser micromachining of novel fibre optic devices”, Journal of Physics: Conference Series 59, 691-695, (2007) by Li et al. However, laser micromachining processes may have certain limitations. The geometry of formed microstructure that may be produced may be quite limited. More importantly, in order to machine a fiber by a laser beam, each fiber must be individually positioned and aligned on a micrometer scale before the processing by laser beam may commence. Accordingly, this is a very time consuming process that limits productivity and thereby cost efficiency.
Therefore, there is a long felt and unmet need for manufacturing methods that result in highly effective optical devices that may be accomplished cost effectively.